Medieval zodiac

Medieval zodiac

Colegiata de San Isidoro de Leon, Leon, Spain,11th century 

The original church where lies the Basilica de San Isidoro de Leon, was build over the ruins of a roman temple to the god Mercury and destroyed shortly, after the conquest by AL-Manzor in the 10th century.

In the 11th century a new church and monastery were estabelished by king Alfonso V of Leon and rededicated to San Isidoro de Seville, when his relics were transfered to the chapel. San Isidoro was archbishop of Seville and an well known academic and theologian of the visigothic Spain.

Stonemansons and sculptors from across Europe gathered to work on the monastery and church, that was located on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. Build mostly in the Romanesque style, it has Gothic and Renaissance elements, added in later centuries.

The new monastery was also choosen as the site for the burial chapel of the kings of Leon. Today eleven kings, numerous queens and nobles, lie in the chapel medieval, Royal Pantheon.The chapel is an outstanding example of the romanesque style in Leon with visigothic capitals with floral and historycal designs and 12th century painted murals, depicting scenes of the New Testament and rural life.

It`s in the basilique main entrance, Porta del Cordero, that we can find the twelve zodiac signs, ordered from the left to the right, Pisces to Aries, making two groups of six, over each side of the door. According to the style, they seem to be from mid 11th century, arround 1065, belonguing to the first stage of the construction of the church. Having suffered a strong erosion over the centuries, which makes difficult to identify some details, they show a strong greco-roman influence, specially in what concerns the treatment of the human body.